B's Energy Log!!! (Strength)

DrBdan

DrBdan

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This is my log to document my attempt at getting stronger. My main goal is pretty simple: increase my overall strength and power. This log is also going to cover my adventures in Muay Thai and conditioning.

A little background... I've been pretty active my entire life but never at any highly competitive level. Over the years I've played soccer, baseball, ice hockey and floor hockey. I've also done curling and inner tube water polo for fun. Currently I play floor hockey and go to the gym. I've been training Muay Thai since January of 2008.

Weights-wise... when I was 13 or 14 my Dad bought me a basic weight set: barbell, adjustable dumbells and maybe 70 lb of weights and about a year later I got a bench. I used the weights on and off for a few years, doing bodybuilder style workouts with little results. I really had no idea what I was doing. The weights were eventually sold at a garage sale when I left for university. In my last semester I got a membership at a chain fitness centre and started going on and off, until the Fall of 2006 when I started going regularly on my lunch hour.

Physically... I've always been pretty skinny. When I was 19 I weighed about 160. After four years of drinking and crappy eating at university followed by a few years at a desk job I got up to 195 by Feb 2007 (mostly fat). At that point I improved my eating habits and made my workouts more intense and by Fall 2007 I was down to around 175.

Currently I'm 28 years old, 6 feet tall, and around 175 lb, though it's definitely a much leaner and stronger 175 than last Fall. Back in the spring I found Sherdog and the S&P which opened my eyes to a better way of training. I started doing the Stronglifts 5x5 in May and have made pretty good gains since.

On a side note, if anyone is wondering about my screename... my name is Brendan. In first year university people were having trouble remembering if it was Brendan or Brandon so one of the guys (who ended up being a good friend) suggested shortening it to B-Dan and it stuck. I'm not a real doctor.

Anyway, on to the training....
 
My schedule in a typical week looks like this:

Mon: Workout A
Tues: Muay Thai
Wed: Misc. Workout at lunch, floor hockey at night
Thurs: Muay Thai
Friday: Workout B

I've been doing the Stronglifts Beginner 5x5 so the schedule is as follows

Workout A: Squats (5x5), Bench (5x5), BB Rows (5x5), Dips (3xf)
Workout B: Squats (5x5), OHP (5x5), Deads (1x5), Chins/Pull-ups (3xf)

I'm only doing it twice a week (instead of 3 times) because my body can't really handle it in combination with the MT and hockey.

The Wed misc. workout is basically a reason to get out of the office for an hour. I've been using it as a light workout and as time to try new things. I usually do a pulling exercise (inverted rows or chins) since I figure that will help even out all of the push-ups I do at MT. Lately I've been doing grip work (tried Smashius's levering stuff last week, good times) because now that my deadlifts #s are getting higher I realize my hands are weak. If the squat rack is free I'll do some light squats to work on my form. I also do shoulder dislocations usually. Any comment or suggestions on things to try would be appreciated.
 
That's a lot of squatting, but then again, you're not maxing out either of those days. You seem to be improving just fine, so keep up the good work!

If you find out that your squats are going nowhere, take it out of Workout A, and squat only the day you pull. Just make sure that you're still feeling the routine that you've put yourself on. Too much redundancy makes me super bored and unwilling to train. Just find out what's best for you.

Welcome to S&P :icon_chee
 
Thanks for the welcome and for the advice! I think I might switch up the squats on one of the days soon, maybe do something like front squats or lunges.

Friday's Workout A (July 18, 2008)

Squats - 170 lb, 5x5
Bench - 125, 5x5 (stalled at 130 so I deloaded and am working my way back up)
Rows - 125 5x5 (dropped the weight a bit on these and I'm trying to use less hip pop)
Dips - 8/6/4

After deloading I really concentrated on my bench form and now I feel a lot more stable and much stronger.
 
Monday's Workout (July 21, 2008)

Squats 175 lb, 5x5
OHP 85 lb 5/5/4/3/2
Deads 225 lb 1x3 (was aiming for 5 reps but felt a twinge in my back on third rep so I stopped)
Chins - 6/6/5

I was feeling tired going into the workout and it showed. The last set of squats was pretty sloppy and I didn't have much juice for the OHP. Chins felt surprisingly good, usually I do 5/5/5. Also, I dropped the weight on my squats a few weeks ago because I felt like my form was getting pretty bad with the heavy weights (don't laugh, heavy for me!). Now I'm almost back up to my previous max but my form feels a lot better.

I'm gonna miss the next two Thursday Muay Thai classes plus the Friday workouts due to my sister's wedding and then a short vacation. Oh well, maybe I'll do some GPP stuff on the beach... haha yeah right. More than likely I'll sit in the sun, read and drink beergaritas (Corona + margarita = awesome) and won't miss the gym one bit.
 
Back to work and the gym after a brief vacation for my sister's wedding. Was a great weekend, everything went smoothly and the wedding was a blast. Went golfing the morning of the wedding and managed to shoot under double-par. Heh, not bad for the first time out this summer. Anyway on to the workout.

Workout A (July 28, 2008)

5 minutes on the elliptical

BB Rows
warmed up with dumbbells
130 lb 5x5

Squats
bw squats x8
45 lb x 6
95x5
135x3
155x2
175x5x5

Bench
45x6
65x4
85x3
125x3
135x5
135x3
125x5x2

Felt great. I got to the gym later than usual and the workout was taking longer so I skipped Dips 3xF. The squat rack and barbell flat bench were in use so I started with rows. I should've been doing 130 for the bench but I felt good and wanted to try 135. By the time I got to bench I was feeling like I was taking too long (the one drawback to hitting the gym at lunch) so I only took a short rest (30 seconds) between sets. I think with longer rest (usually take 60-90 seconds) I could've done a few more sets of 5 reps at 135. Next time, next time....
 
Did the July conditioning challenge today, Suicides. Took 15:15. It was humid as hell, not really the most pleasant day to do it. I wish I had done it earlier in the month because I feel like I could have done it faster.

Also, my right knee is now feeling stiff and a little sore but I'm off on a short vacation so hopefully it will feel fine when I get back.
 
Back from vacation, time to get back into the swing of things. Since I hadn't lifted weights in over a week I decided to do a few less sets. Also I'm going to see NIN in concert tonight and since I have GA floor tickets I didn't want my legs/back to be tired for all that standing.

August 5, 2008

4 minutes on the elliptical + dynamic stretching

-Squats
bw squats x8
45 lb x 6
95x4
135x3
155x2
180x3x5

-OHP
45x2x6
65x2x3
85x3x5

I actually failed on the last rep of the 3rd set at 85 so I push pressed it up. Meh, close enough.

-Deadlifts
135x4
155x3
175x2
205x1
225x1
245x1
255 (failed)

I would usually do 225x1x5 but instead decided to try some heavy singles. I tried 255 and it barely moved. I'm quite happy with 245 as that's a PR for me, though I'd never really tested my 1RM on deads before.

Chins - 7/6/4

Overall, felt good. My right knee was stiff and a little sore after doing the July conditioning challenge last Wednesday but it feels good now and it didn't affect my workout at all.
 
Today was my misc. light day. I decided to try out the C2 rower in preparation for the August conditioning challenge.

August 6, 2008

Did 10 minutes on the C2 rower on level 10. First 5 minutes were slow, warming up and getting used to the motion since I've never rowed on a rowing machine before and it's been a long time since I've rowed a real boat. Second 5 minutes I went faster. Took a short break and then did two 500m sprints, 1:50 and 1:55. Next time I'm at the gym I'm going to try it on level 8 and see if that makes much of a difference.

Wrist Levering
forwards 3x5 each arm
backwards 3x5 each arm
side-to-side 3x5 each arm

Shoulder Dislocations
3x10

Also did some lower body stretching and that's it.
 
Thursday August 7, 2008

Muay Thai

Instructor did an endurance class, so less emphasis on perfect technique, more emphasis on working hard. I was dead by the end of the class because I've missed so many lately but it was good because it felt like I needed a good hard workout to get back into the swing of things. In the warm-up round (pad-holder calls random combos) I felt really awkward but once the class got going I felt fine. Here's a rough outline of the class

warm-up
- two 5 minute rounds of skipping
- 1,2 sprawls
- plank
- wall squat holds
- hopping push-ups
- sprawls for 1 minute
- descending push-up ladder (20 push-ups, 10 crunches, 18 push-ups, 10 crunches etc., I made it down to 10 push-ups) for about 5 minutes
- jogging mixed in with sprinting

class
- warm-up round (partner calls combos)
- practiced spinning back fist but instructor decided class was too busy and there wasn't enough space to safely add this into a combo
- warm-up round with a teep/swing kick combo and the "infini-combo" (jab, hook, uppercut, cross, hook, uppercut)
- 5 minute round, kick combo then punch combo, repeat with surprises breaking it up (surprises like 10 sprawls, 20 push-ups etc)
- 5 minute round, just kick combo with more surprises
- 5 minute round, just punch combo non-stop, more surpises
- 1 minute of machine-gun punches, if anyone dropped their hands the entire class had to do 10 push-ups. I didn't drop my hands but I still had to do more push-ups...

I had good energy the entire class but I was totally spent after the last 5 minute round. My left swing kick now feels pretty good, not a tonne of power but it feels smooth and not awkward. I also learned not to wear certain boxer shorts to class because the one kind I have are too tight on my thighs and make kicking a bit awkward.
 
Friday August 8, 2008

Did the August conditioning challenge today, four 500m sprints on the C2 Rower.

Warmed up with 5 minutes on the elliptical and 5 minutes light rowing on the C2 then did the sprints...

1:45
1:49
1:52
1:53
-----
7:19 total

I'm fairly happy with that. I got a good pace going so I was tired by the end of each sprint but didn't gas out. I don't think I could have done a 5th sprint in under 2:00. I'll try it a couple more times this month and see if I can get it down to 7:00 even.

That was pretty much all I wanted to do today since I was pretty tired from Muay Thai and a lack of sleep but since I was there I did a bit more.

Push press
85 lb 3x5

Crunches 3x15
 
Felt great today, didn't want to leave the gym. I don't think work would have appreciated that though.

Monday August 11, 2008

5 minutes on the treadmill + dynamic stretching

- Squats
bw x8
45 lb x 6
95x4
135x3
165x2
180x5x5

- Incline Bench
45x2x6
65x4
95x3
115x3x5

- Flat Bench
125x3x5

I don't normally do both incline and flat but the flat bench was in use so I started on incline and then switched to flat.

- Rows
130x5x5

- Dips: 8/5/4
 
Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Muay Thai

Warm-up was typical for the Tuesday class. Little skipping, jumping jacks and variations instead. Squats and knee-ups, push-ups, bridges, supermans and tonnes of ab work. Finish with neck exercises.

Actual class: basic blocking drills, then a couple 3-hit combos on the thai pads and that was all. Warm-up was extra long so the actual class time was shorter. My right uppercut was solid and my left uppercut was crap. No kicks or knees today. Lately the classes have been bigger (at least 30 people) but I actually got some face time with the instructors, which was a nice change.
 
Wednesday, August 13, 2008

5 minutes light rowing then did two 500m sprints with 1:30 break between. Times: 1:46 and 1:49. I used level 6 and can't say I noticed a big difference between that and level 8. I'm probably going to retry the conditioning challenge at the end of next week.

Chins: 5/4/3

Wrist Levering
- forwards 3x5 each arm
- backwards 3x5 each arm
- side-to-side 3x5 each arm

Shoulder Dislocations 4x10

That's it. Hockey tonight, though the game doesn't really matter. We're already guaranteed to be in the top 4 and it's almost guaranteed that we'll play this team again next week in the first round of the playoffs.
 
Thursday, August 14, 2008

Muay Thai

New instructor for the Thursday class. He usually does a short warm-up. Did some skipping, running, push-ups, sit-ups, sprawls, sprints and then finished with some partner assisted stretching. Took about 15 minutes, as opposed to other instructors that do at least 30 minutes. I think that will be good though since I'm usually feeling a little worn down by Thursday night. Worked various combos for a few rounds, then added in some clinch combos. Worked combos in batches of three, occasionally instructor would yell "clinch" and we'd do three clinch combos.

I like his focus on the clinch and the variety of combos but sometimes the long progressions of combos get overwhelming, mostly just when I'm tired. I think it's probably better than some instructors technique of "do this one combo 50 times, go!".

Friday, August 15, 2008

5 minutes on the treadmill plus dynamic stretching

- Squats
bw x8
45x6
95x4
135x3
165x2
185x3x5
155x6

My right knee has been bothering me on and off since I did the July conditioning challenge and it started acting up after hockey on Wed so I did 3x5 instead of 5x5.

- OHP
45x2x6
65x2x3
85 5/5/5/4/4

I seem to be stuck at 85 right now, blah.

- Deadlift
135x4
155x3
175x2
205x1
235x5

Chins - 7/6/5

Added in some neck exercises at the end. The nice thing is that no matter what my other lifts do, my deadlift continues to steadily improve.
 
I decided to switch to doing 3x5 instead of 5x5 and see how that affects my progress and my recovery. I often find that lately I'm really tired by the end of the week so a little less volume might help.

Monday, August 18, 2008

5 minutes on the treadmill + dynamic stretching

- Squats
bw x8
45 lb x6
95x4
135x3
165x2
190x3x5

- Bench
45x6
65x4
95x3
115x2
130x3x5

- Rows
95x4
115x3
135x3x5

- Front Squats
45x2x6

Just trying these out. I might sub these in as an alternative to the usual back squats since they focus on the quads a bit more and occasionally my last few reps on heavy weights become good morning-ish. I can't get the proper clean-style grip so I tried them with the arms-crossed style. It's kinda tough on the shoulders so I think I'll have to get the clean grip down before doing heavy weights.

- Dips: 8/6/4
 
Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Muay Thai.

Typical Tuesday warm-up, except it went for about 40 minutes instead of 30. One girl dropped her head halfway through neck exercises so we had to start over, fun.

Class was pretty basic. Worked two basic three punch combos, added in knee/teep/kick and that was it. Instructor pointed out that I was really popping my jab (good) but wasn't fully twisting my hips/shoulders into the cross (bad). I concentrated on that and it made a big difference in the power. I really like this class now that a second instructor is helping, it's really helping to clean up my technique.
 
Wednesday August 20, 2008

Light day at the gym.

5 minutes on the treadmill.

- Pull-ups: 3x3
- Chins: 1x6

Hurray I can now do more than 1 pull-up!

- Wrist Levering
forwards 3x5
side-to-side 3x5

- Pinch-grip plate holds: held 20 kg plate in each hand, two sets of 45 seconds

- Shoulder dislocations: 4x10

I've decided to do greasing the groove for push-ups. We did a lot in yesterday's class and I hate that I end up doing them on my knees eventually. I'm going to do it for a few weeks and see if it makes much of a difference. I'm not going to bother logging them since they'll do be done sporadically throughout the day.

First playoff game tonight for hockey. We lost to these fuckers last week so we'd better beat them now, when it counts.
 
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